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Upon this the men laid their bolos, and spears were then stuck in the ground in a circle around the platform. Next Datto Ansig as chief of the sacrifice made an oration which was about as follows: 'Oh, Mandarangan, chief of evil spirits and all the other spirits, come to our feast and accept our sacrifice.

Baloey, a Kagan living at Padada, claims to have seen a Bila-an sacrifice at Ma-al, about ten years ago, while Bagobo Datu Ansig of Talun, and Tongkaling of Cibolan claim to have witnessed several of these events.

The child had been thus tied up while alive and had been cut into two parts at the waist; this was about the position of the body when we saw it. "Immediately about twenty persons began to chop the body into small pieces; and Ansig, the datto of Talun, came over to us and gave Baon two pieces of the victim's hair attached to the scalp, which is a sign of the sacrifice.

"Ongon agreed to pay Ido five agongs for the boy and took him to the house of Ansig where arrangements were made for the sacrifice by calling on all who for any reason had need to appease the evil spirits to come and take part.

"Ongon, a henchman of Datto Ansig, purchased from Bagobo Ido, a Bilan slave boy named Sacum about eight years old and who was deaf and cross-eyed, and had other defects of vision, making him of little or no value as a laborer. Ido originally received this slave from Duon, a Bilan, as a wedding present when he married Duon's daughter about a year ago.

The victim was a slave owned and sacrificed by Datto Ansig. The first bolo cut which severs the body at the waist and which in this case we were told was done by Ansig is always performed by the person making the sacrifice.

"Datto Ansig, a man about sixty years of age, says that in his life he has attended or officiated at fifty human sacrifices, more or less, both among the Bagobos and the Bilanes, and that human sacrifice is also practiced among the Tagacolos, although he has never been present at one held by that tribe.

"The Bagobos do not sacrifice any but old and decrepit or useless slaves captured from other tribes, but the Bilanes sacrifice even their own people. "Being asked if it was customary to eat any portion of the body sacrificed, Ansig replied that it was not customary nor did he know of any case where such had occurred.

The people present were guests of Ansig and were not responsible for the killing, though it is the custom for the more favored ones to assist in chopping the victim into small pieces after death."

Ansig then placed a spear at the child's right side at a point below the right arm and above the margin of the ribs. This lance was grasped by the widows Addy and Obby, who at a signal from Ansig forced it through the child's body, it coming out at the other side.